Thanks a lot for your reply. I got a bit confused as in my QM book, they presented HO as if when you add more quanta you go higher and higher in energy. But it seems like you will end up having Rabi oscillations between 2 levels (ignoring the lifetime of excited states). I haven't really seen any mention of Rabi oscillations in the context of the HO.WernerQH said:Yes, of course. Cyclotron emission (from electrons spiralling in a magnetic field) is very much like that. Electrons jump from one Landau level to the next and emit photons of the cyclotron frequency with each step. And this can be self-amplifying due to stimulated emission. It is called electromagnetic cyclotron instability and is well known in plasma physics. It happens when the electron velocity distribution becomes unstable, i.e. there is a "population inversion" and in a region of velocity space faster electrons are more numerous than slow ones.
It is wrong to think of stimulated emission as a quantum effect. Already Einstein explained that it has a classical analog. An oscillating charge in an electromagnetic wave can gain energy or lose energy (giving it to the wave) depending on the phase relation between the oscillator and the wave.
kelly0303 said:Thanks a lot for your reply. I got a bit confused as in my QM book, they presented HO as if when you add more quanta you go higher and higher in energy. But it seems like you will end up having Rabi oscillations between 2 levels (ignoring the lifetime of excited states). I haven't really seen any mention of Rabi oscillations in the context of the HO.
It is correct that in a harmonic oscillator you can go up to higher and higher energies. Rabi oscillations are specific to two-level systems.kelly0303 said:in my QM book, they presented HO as if when you add more quanta you go higher and higher in energy. But it seems like you will end up having Rabi oscillations between 2 levels (ignoring the lifetime of excited states). I haven't really seen any mention of Rabi oscillations in the context of the HO.
Stimulated emission in a harmonic oscillator is a process in which an excited atom or molecule releases energy in the form of a photon, causing another atom or molecule in its vicinity to also release a photon of the same energy and phase. This process is a key principle in the operation of lasers.
In a harmonic oscillator, such as an atom or molecule, electrons can exist in different energy levels. When an electron in an excited state drops to a lower energy level, it releases a photon of a specific energy. If another electron in the same excited state is nearby, it can be stimulated by the photon to also drop to a lower energy level and release a photon of the same energy and phase.
Spontaneous emission occurs when an electron in an excited state drops to a lower energy level and releases a photon without any external influence. Stimulated emission, on the other hand, occurs when an external photon stimulates the release of a photon from an excited electron in a similar energy state.
Stimulated emission is a key principle in the operation of lasers. By creating a population inversion, where more atoms or molecules are in an excited state than in a lower energy state, a laser can produce a coherent and intense beam of light through stimulated emission. This allows for precise and controlled light amplification and is essential for many technological applications.
The harmonic oscillator, such as an atom or molecule, provides the energy levels necessary for stimulated emission to occur. Without the discrete energy levels of a harmonic oscillator, electrons would not be able to drop to a lower energy level and release a photon of a specific energy, making stimulated emission impossible.